Top Factors That Could Sink New York Giants This Season

The New York Giants, who last year surprised a lot of people with their 11-5 record under first-year head coach Ben McAdoo, have big plans and grand visions for 2017 that they hope will make everything accomplished last year pale by comparison.

However, as in life, things don't always go as planned on a football club.

Even last year when McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese were planning the team, who would have, for example, seen the backlash the Josh Brown scandal created, or the distraction caused by the receivers when they were pictured aboard a yacht the day before they were due in New Jersey to begin preparing for the team's first playoff berth since 2011?

The optimism for 2017 is high, but there will be things that will try to knock the Giants off course. The following slides outline some of the many possible scenarios that could potentially sabotage the Giants' 2017 aspirations of marching to a Super Bowl championship.

Accumulated Injuries

Frank Victores/Associated Press

Last year, the Giants' multi-year streak of being the most injured team in the NFL was finally broken.

The Giants, who per Football Outsiders finished 32nd in 2015 with an adjusted games lost (AGL) average of 138.7, came in as the league's seventh healthiest team in 2016, having dropped that AGL rate down to 52.4.

That doesn't mean the Giants weren't without their injuries. They lost both their fullback candidates, Nikita Whitlock and Will Johnson, before the start of the regular season—a factor that didn't exactly help the running game.

They also lost defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul for the final four games played, and they were without third-down back Shane Vereen and starting free safety Darian Thompson for the majority of the season.

Somehow, though, the Giants found a way to overcome those losses, finishing 11-5 and with their first playoff berth since 2011. That's because head coach McAdoo believes in playing younger players earlier in the year to get them experience, but probably more so because the Giants defense carried the club on its back. 

The Giants are going to have guys get injured that will necessitate changing up some of what they do, but in the end, it all boils down to who suffers the injury and how long the injury knocks him out of action. If the injuries come in clusters—say, for example, the bug hits the defensive secondary—it could make for a long year for Giants fans.  

The Offensive Tackles Struggle

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

It's only June, but optimism about the Giants' projected starting offensive tackles, Ereck Flowers on the left and Bobby Hart on the right, has probably reached a peak even though the players haven't been in full pads yet.

With good reason. Both Flowers and Hart have rededicated themselves to their craft after what was easily a forgettable and unacceptable showing last year.

"It's really good; you could see the difference in the sense of their condition and where they are right now at this point," offensive line coach Mike Solari said of his two young tackles.

But while Solari and the rest of the coaching staff seem encouraged by Flowers and Hart's improved conditioning, there is still a matter of them proving just how far they have come on the football field, something even Solari said was an unknown.

"For an offensive lineman, until you could put the pads on, that's when you'll really ascend as an offensive lineman."

The Giants are certainly hoping for an ascension, because if one or both players fall flat again, not only will that put the Giants behind the eight ball in terms of depth, the improvement of the offense and, in particular, the passing game are depending on both players turning the corner.

The Defense Regresses

Julio Cortez/Associated Press

Last year, the Giants defense, sporting several new shiny pieces acquired via free agency, took the NFL by storm.

General manager Reese sunk close to $200 million in contacts for newcomers like defensive tackle Damon Harrison, defensive end Olivier Vernon, cornerback Janoris Jenkins and linebacker Keenan Robinson, and he re-signed defensive end Pierre-Paul to a one-year deal.

That super expensive facelift gave the Giants defense, which had ranked dead last overall in the prior season, enough firepower to soar all the way to 10th in 2016.

This past offseason, Reese did a good job keeping most of that defense together, the lone exception being the departure of free agent defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins to the Colts.

While the optimism is high that the defense will soar even higher in the ranking—in this the second year featuring that high-priced free agent class and third year of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo's second tenure with the team—the 2016 season also taught us a valuable lesson that nothing is guaranteed.

At the start of the 2016 season, the Giants offense was coming off a top-10 ranking the year prior. Despite having pretty much the same personnel in place that got them to that ranking, a combination of injuries and coaching decisions along the way sent the offense tumbling from eighth in 2015 to 25th last year.

Although Reese has done a good job of ensuring he has enough depth at each position in case of an emergency, the Giants still have some question marks on defense—namely in the depth at linebacker and cornerback, two positions that weren't addressed in the draft and two positions where if injuries were to happen could potentially derail the defenses' continued growth. 

The Offense Remains Predictable

Seth Wenig/Associated Press

Head coach McAdoo, who last year retained the play-calling duties, has yet to disclose if he will again call plays in 2017, citing a desire to maintain a competitive advantage.

All signs seem to be pointing to McAdoo retaining the job, and that could be a concern that ends up torpedoing the Giants' chances in 2017.

Why? Despite having had most of the same personnel from the 2015 team in 2016, McAdoo's creative play-calling tendencies seemed to fall by the wayside and become ho-hum instead. But even more alarming for the Giants last year is how quickly the league seemed to figure out not only most of the trends McAdoo liked to run from 11-personnel, but also how to minimize the Giants receivers.

To be fair, this year McAdoo was given an upgrade in talent, the expectations being that he turns the unit around much in the same way as defensive coordinator Spagnuolo did with the defense.

If McAdoo can't turn it around and if the offense remains as predictable as it was a year ago, perhaps the best competitive advantage McAdoo can give his team is to hand over the play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan.

Odell Beckham Jr.

Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

Make no mistake about it: The Giants need Odell Beckham Jr. to be the opposing defense's worst nightmare.

What they don't need is for Beckham to lose his cool to the point he's committing unnecessary penalties that hurt his team, or even potentially lead to his ejection from the game if he should allow guys like Washington cornerback Josh Norman to live rent-free inside his head during a game.

In three NFL seasons, Beckham, per data collected by NFLPenalties.com, has drawn 13 flags, eight of which were could be chalked up to him losing his cool or not exercising sound judgement.

They also don't need Beckham throwing postgame temper tantrums that include banging his head against a wall or punching holes in walls, both actions that could lead to injuries.

If the Giants can't help Beckham to take that next step forward in his maturity, and if they can't help him to start handling on-field adversity better, they're probably not going to go far this year.  

Patricia Traina covers the New York Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. All quotes and information were obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced.